Prince of Attania, 2

Stenson insisted on driving his rickety old delivery truck all the way to Darcy. It was his way of controlling the situation. So it took them three days instead of the two a normal vehicle would take. Or the mere hours going in Elemental form would take.

During the drive, they had time to talk. Stenson had avoided merging with Attan on his return from the mountaintop Sons village, which Attan was just as glad about. He wasn’t sure what he thought about Stenson anymore.

“You know, by the time your father and his enforcers get there, that Sons of Men village will be deserted.”

Attan glanced at him. Stenson had been going on in the same vein for hours now. “Why?”

“What do you think the enforcers will do to them?” Stenson asked instead. “You think they’ll just let them continue on training the younger generation to oppose them?”

Why not? Attan didn’t see any harm in it. They weren’t actually rebelling, exactly. Just choosing to live differently, that’s all. What was wrong with that? But Stenson didn’t believe that Jet’s government would let it stand. Even if Jet were willing to, his Enforcer wouldn’t allow it. Attan found that very hard to believe. “I didn’t say anything to my father,” he muttered for the tenth time.

“But as soon as you merge with him, he’ll see.”

In frustration, Attan swiveled around in his seat to glare at the older Elemental. “Then why did you send me there?” he asked heatedly.

“I wanted you to see,” Stenson replied. Attan rolled his eyes in defeat. He had seen, and been both impressed and appalled at the teachings of these Sons. They mingled Family and non-family children together better than Jet’s attempt to do the same thing across Attania. The only difference was, these children had no idea they were different from each other at all. The Family children did not use their elemental gifts because they did not realize they had any. It was an unrealistic world these Sons had created at the top of their mountain, and Attan still wasn’t sure what they—or Stenson—hoped to accomplish by it.

Stenson pulled up to the very gates of Darcy’s royal mansion, which was no longer hidden as it had been a generation ago. Attan remembered that Stenson had been here before, when he was Aylard First. Enforcer guards stopped their vehicle at the gate, but Attan got out and revealed his identity. At first, the guards questioned whether he really was who he said he was, but Attan let go of his physical body so he could merge with the one who seemed to be in charge. As soon as he did so, the guard quickly took back his own physical body and apologized profusely. “I didn’t recognize you, Prince,” he said. “We were told you might be coming but I thought it would be . . .” His eyes drifted over to Stenson where he sat in his scruffy delivery truck. “I’m sorry, go on in. The King is waiting for you.”

Stenson actually smirked as he drove through the gate, looking straight ahead. His dark hair was covered by a knitted cap, and his face was so smudged it was hard to tell if he was Family or not. Attan realized he probably looked no better. No wonder the enforcer guards had questioned him.

Jet waited for them in front of the mansion. His young son Zephyr stood by his side, as did Darcy’s Queen, Lorra, and her twins. Attan was surprised that Zephyr was in Darcy rather than home with his own mother in Wister. He’d thought Madelyne didn’t want him to attend school at Arden with the other royal cousins. As if Jet had heard his thoughts, the King explained, “Maddie thought Zeph could use a little training, so she sends him to me for a week every so often.”

Stenson gave Attan a telling glance, which Attan ignored. His younger brother looked just like Jet, and he was already tall and thin, growing like a weed. Lorra’s two, who weren’t that much younger than Zephyr, by comparison appeared short and chubby. The boy, Bian, had his mother’s curls.

Not that Jet needed the protection, but where were his enforcers? Except for the guards at the gate, Attan could detect none. Before he had a chance to ask about it, however, Lorra came forward and gathered him into her arms for a fierce hug. Her head came up to his chest, he realized, as he looked down at her in astonishment. “Good to see you, son,” she mumbled into his chest, astonishing him even more. He liked Lorra, he always had, but he thought she merely tolerated him because he was Jet’s son. His arms tightened around her.

The children, his siblings, took their cue from Lorra and swarmed around them both. “Attan! Attan!” they called, vying for his attention.

“Attan! Look at me!” Zephyr shouted, before transforming to wind and zipping around them all like his namesake. Attan laughed. He would have joined his little brother as wind, but Jet caught his eye and gave a slight shake of his head. Later. Sure enough, Zephyr took back his physical body moments later, appearing beside Attan rather than his dad. Surrounded by kids and Lorra, who still hadn’t let go of him, Attan couldn’t help grinning.

Jet turned his gaze to Stenson, who had moved back next to his truck during the mini family reunion. “Lorra,” he said, without breaking his gaze, “you remember Aylard First? This is his new form—James Stenson. Jim, this is my wife Lorra, and our children.”

Stenson’s dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Your children.” He deliberately looked at Attan, and smiled. “I don’t recall meeting this lovely lady, though. I’m pleased to meet you in person. I’ve seen you on the television of course. Everyone has.” Again, his gaze slipped to Attan. “You’re the mother of all Attania’s royal children.”

Jet came down the steps to grasp Stenson’s arm in greeting. “Yes, she is,” he agreed amiably.

Stenson flinched when Jet touched his arm, as if afraid the King would force him into a merge against his will, but Jet let go after the initial friendly pat, as he would with any Family who felt uncomfortable with his Elemental nature.

Lorra gathered the other royal children to her, herding them inside. “Attan,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll expect you for lunch later.” She shooed the children ahead of her, ignoring Zephyr’s cries of protest that he was old enough to stay with the men. Attan smiled at that.

“Follow me.” Abruptly, Jet took wind form and whirled across the compound towards the back of the building. Attan and Stenson followed suit, as Jet led them through the walls, down into his hidden sanctuary in the lower basement, the one off the library where no one ever was allowed to go without permission.

He took form and gestured for the two of them to have a seat, while he seated himself in the big, overstuffed chair where Tommy and Charles had hidden their stolen drinks. Attan wondered if the empty cups were still under the chair. He stifled a grin.

“Something’s happened and it pushed up our plans to explore the seas around Attania,” Jet began without preamble. Stenson tensed at the mention of Attania’s seas. “Daniel sent some men out in flitters to follow the path you told us the light traveled in the Eastern Sea. It was safe; these were non-family men, and the flitters had plenty of fuel to make it out several miles and then return. Except they never returned. They disappeared completely. At first, Daniel assumed the flitters had malfunctioned and they both drowned at sea, but now we don’t think that was the case.”

“Why don’t you think that was the case?” Attan asked.

“What light?” Stenson growled. “Why were you in the Eastern Sea?”

This was ridiculous. It took too much time, and so much was left unsaid—by all parties. Attan understood Stenson’s reluctance to merge, while at the same time the core of him hungered for it, but this was more important. “Merge,” he said, giving Stenson a choice before he forced the merge on him. It wasn’t something Attan did lightly, ever.

It didn’t come to that, however. Stenson let go of his physical self, as did Jet, with a quick lift of his eyebrows at his son’s assertiveness. The three of them merged together. Nothing was held back in the merge. Attan could have shielded some of the things he knew but he didn’t bother. Hiding things was what had brought them to this pass. It was time for truth. Daniel had sent a third flitter after the first two disappeared, and this time Daniel himself went with it as wind. But, when they reached the place where Attan’s lights had stopped, Daniel’s essence had been repelled. He could go no farther. The flitter, however, did. Daniel watched as it passed the invisible barrier and just . . . disintegrated.

He saw what his father wanted of him: to go to sea in ships, to investigate the barrier up close, see how far it went around Attania, if it had any weaknesses. He wanted Elea to go with him, in case her special brand of power would be helpful. Greg was already there, at Elea’s village, briefing her and Meetoo about the mission. The ships were ready and waiting at the port. This was to take priority over Attan’s assignment to monitor Stenson—Stenson’s essence flared at that—and Stenson was to remain behind in Darcy until Attan’s return.

That forced them out of the merge. Stenson sputtered as he took back his body. “You can’t do that! You can’t go—there’s nothing out there! Nothing! You risk destroying Attania utterly if you tamper with the barrier! At least let me accompany Attan.”

“So you do know about the barrier,” Jet said speculatively, as Stenson turned stormy eyes on him. “Did you create it? Your kind, I mean?”

The answer was so far back in Stenson’s memories that even he wasn’t sure, but he believed the barrier was the only thing holding Attania together. Attan hadn’t been able to determine any more than that through their merge, which meant that even Stenson himself did not know. “If you breach it, we all die,” he said darkly.

“We can’t die,” Jet replied.

“Don’t be stupid!” Stenson snapped. Attan knew what he meant. They would lose all sense of who and what they were, all of them, even those who called themselves Elementals now. For all intents and purposes, it would be like dying. He’d gathered that in their merge.

Jet clenched his jaw. “This isn’t up for discussion,” he said. “Attan goes. You stay.”

“You’d send your own son to die for nothing?” Stenson sneered. “Oh, that’s right. You have others now. If something happens to Attan, it’s no big loss, is it?”

“Is that why you think I introduced you to my family?” Jet asked, his voice deceptively mild. It had come out in the merge, too. Jet wanted Stenson to see that Family were human, too, in every sense of the word, that they loved each other and more importantly, mattered to each other. His tirade was more to influence Attan than to anger Jet. “Attan knows I love him.”

“At least don’t send that girl with them. She could damage the barrier beyond repair. Then it won’t matter how many sons you have, or who loves who, because we’ll all be gone.”

Attan wasn’t as worried about Elea as he was about Meetoo. Meetoo was unstable. What if he tried to breach the barrier and caused another explosion like the one which had killed Tom Jadock and wiped out half of Elea’s village? But Meetoo was better off staying close to him and Elea than remaining behind without them. “Greg is there now? Does Greg know about his brother?”

Jet nodded tightly. “Daniel thought it best. He’s handling it.”

“I’ll go. Who will look after Stenson?”

Stenson bristled. “No one has to look after me. You said I wasn’t a prisoner.”

“No, you’re not,” Jet answered. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stay here in Darcy with me and my family—the rest of my family—,“ he corrected, glancing at Attan before Stenson had a chance to object. “Give us a chance to show you we’re not so different from the kids you saved in other parts of Attania.” Jet had definitely picked up that information from the merge. “And I promise I won’t go after the new home you sent them to, either,” he added, proving that nothing had been hidden in this merge. “Believe it or not, I want to save them, too.”

Stenson scowled at that, but he said nothing.

Attan left them there in the basement, while he went to find Lorra and the kids for lunch. They were outside in one of the open gardens having a picnic. Zephyr jumped up when Attan materialized next to their blanket. “There you are!” he said. “I’ve been waiting all day for you!”

All day? It had been an hour, at most. Attan smiled. “I’m here now. What do you want to do?”

“This!” Zephyr changed form to fire, and merged through Attan, who changed himself to fire also. He felt joy, love, pride bursting through the merge. Seconds later, another flame joined the merge, this one feather-light but just as joyful, then a third, Lilly, deep and steady, and finally, Lorra, who wrapped her essence around all of theirs, including Attan’s, and broadcast contentment, home. Home. Attan hadn’t felt that in a long time. He broadcast his own happiness, and let theirs wash through him. No, he didn’t want to lose all this. He would have to be very careful when he investigated the barrier that seemed to stretch all the way around Attania. Because everything within that barrier was precious to him.

Later, after they had eaten, they lay on the blanket and stared up into the sky above them. Zephyr twisted around on his elbow to look at Attan. “I feel you, you know,” he said. “Sometimes. At night. I feel you up there.” He glanced towards the sky.

Attan smiled. “You do? I’m glad.”